There's a reason why early-eighties industrial music featured minimal instrumentation and primitive gear: there was no other option! Otherwise, the ensemble and aesthetic haven't changed much, for better or worse; one night at your local club's Dark-Wave night will prove the point. Wumpscut's music doesn't deviate much from the template established by the style's pioneers, but in this case you can celebrate (or at least wear a red scarf over your dyed-black coif); Bone Peeler's familiar sounds are nostalgic rather than clichéd, catchy instead of hopelessly trendy. For example, you might roll your eyes when "The March of the Dead"'s introductory choir sample turns into the old "sample some old movie dialog that vaguely summarizes the song's subject" trick (in this case, "I'm gonna kill you, you, you..."). However, as the war-drums enter, coupled with Rudy R's staccato chant -- "We are the dead men / better beware" -- you'll be reminded why you love this genre in the first place. The track channels the energy of Sister Machine Gun's "UIOIUOIUOIU", the danceability of Front 242's "Headhunter" and subtle emotion of Nitzer Ebb's "Control, I'm Here".

"I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him," the sampled voice whispers in "Fear in Your Eyes", and likewise, you think, "Dear Lord, where is this going?" Hang on. The track could fit nicely on Skinny Puppy's Remission; it's obvious that Wumpscut ingested his share of the material that mattered (and still matters) to the scene.

Bone Peeler is as relevant as the music made by Wumpscut's predecessors -- so it's as good a starting point as any for listeners eager to explore industrial music. That's not a compliment I give lightly, especially not to albums recorded after 1990!